And so this is Arbor Day, and what have you done, APPLE TV PLUS?

I tell you what you have not done: You have not added It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown to your streaming service. You delighted me (because I happened to have Apple Plus; to be fair, you angered many who didn't) by adding the Big Three Peanuts holiday specials in 2020, then continuing to sprinkle in some in 2021. So far we have seen the New Year's, Valentine's Day, and Easter specials.

But what about Arbor Day?

I think many people still believe this is a fictitious program that people use to mock the ubiquity of Peanuts holiday shows. Yet it really did premiere on March 16, 1976, on CBS.

I wish Apple would unveil all the Peanuts shows, not just a handful of the most famous ones, and even if you don't make Arbor Day (which of course, contrary to Sally's assertion above, celebrates famed Revolutionary War hero Justice Arbor) a huge deal, wouldn't you like to see how the Peanuts gang tackles it? Fortunately, the shows aren't too hard to find if you look around, though Warner Brothers never did give comprehensive, coherent releases of all of them on home video. 

But does anyone know where to find The Stockard Channing Show?

Chuck Brown's Pumpkin Time: One of my favorite moments

 Let's kick off Halloween Week with one of my favorite moments from one of my favorite animated specials.  If there's one bright side to the Big Three of Peanuts holiday programs going to streaming video and off broadcast television, it's the wake-up call it seemed to give so many: Hey, we watch these and treasure them every year.

This little bit gets me each time I see it.  The gang is having a Halloween bash, and while Lucy and Violet look at a pumpkin and strike a contemplative pose, look who comes running out of nowhere like a bat out of hell:

All right, these screencaps are terrible. Apologies for my old-school DVD, but I'm sure glad I have it/ You know why? Because it means i don't have to count on a broadcast network showing it in and likely chopping it up.

I love this moment because Charlie is just running through the room yelling with his arms raised for no apparent reason. What is he doing? What's going on at this party? If Charlie, a guy who is often fairly reserved, is carrying on like this, what is happening in the other room?

People often remember the "grown-up" moments of the holiday specials, like Linus' sermon at the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas, but times like this remind you that they are kids, after all. Maybe it's no wonder we never see adults around here!

Does Lucy Van Pelt play the TV Guide Game?

One of my favorite Halloween traditions is watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and though I now have it on DVD, I still pretend I'm seeing it on CBS.  I've been watching this special for decades, and I never noticed until this year that in this scene Lucy Van Pelt is reading a TV Guide with herself on the cover!

I'm just thankful Mike has never called me a blockhead or threatened to slug me during an installment of the TV Guide game...yet.